IOS 13 REVIEW: JOIN THE DARK SIDE
Apple’s latest iPhone software brings dark mode, a new Photos app, and bugs
13 is here. Apple is bringing a very different sort of update to last year’s iOS 12, which was built around performance improvements and rethinking how much we use our phones. iOS 13 is big and flashy. It’s looking to wow users with a slick dark mode; striking updates to apps like Apple Maps, Photos, and even Reminders; and long-overdue additions like a swiping keyboard and UI improvements.
The changes are largely on the iterative or cosmetic side, though. At this point, iOS feels like it’s started to crystalize. For better or worse, what we have now is Apple’s vision of what a smartphone OS should be. (That’s even truer now that the iPad has been forked off into its own iPadOS, meaning that future iOS versions should be even more tailored to iPhones.)
This vision is clearly seen in the fact that so much of iOS 13 is spent improving Apple’s own apps and services to the point where they’re back at the standard that other third-party ones set long ago, like codifying dark mode on a system-wide level instead of letting apps fend for themselves; “Sherlocking” basic photo editors, reminders apps, and cycle trackers all in a single update; and even its latest attempt to challenge Google Maps for navigation. Apple is improving its apps because, to use iOS 13 to the fullest, you have to use them.
The end result is more of a grab bag of minor updates and improvements than a full-fledged overhaul. Think of it almost like iOS 12S. Or to extend the analogy I made last year, if iOS 12 was a heaping plate of healthy vegetables, iOS 13 is a bright, colorful candy bar. But just like a meal of junk food, it leaves you a little unfulfilled in the end.
PERFORMANCE
13 has a few new headline features, and I am going to get into all of them. (I know you’re waiting on Dark Mode.) But the most important thing to know before we dive in is that, at least right now, iOS 13 doesn’t live up to Apple’s usual standard of quality. It likely won’t hurt to install it right away, but it’s probably worth waiting for the iOS 13.1 update, which is due to be released on September 24th.
I’ve been using iOS 13 in beta for the last few months and the final 13.0 release since September 10th on my iPhone X, and I haven’t experienced the annual slowdown that used to be part and parcel of the iOS update experience. It’s not the same speed boost that Apple offered last year with 12, but it shouldn’t actively slow down your phone, at the very least. That’s a low bar to clear, but it’s a necessary one.
The version of iOS 13 that’s shipping out to customers today feels rushed out the door. Between my own tests and those of other Verge staffers, we’ve run into a lot of significant bugs: apps randomly crash when opening them, cellular signals drop, the Camera app can be slow, pictures have randomly gotten new dates assigned to them, AirDrop has had issues, the text field flips out sometimes in iMessages, and more. You probably won’t run into all of these problems, but, odds are, you’ll run into some of them.
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